Man who tried to kill stranger over queue-jumping row jailed

A man who tried to kill a stranger amid a queue-jumping row has been jailed for eight years.

Martin Wilson, 42, was captured on CCTV carrying out the attack in Edinburgh on August 25 last year.

The crime occurred outside council offices in the capital’s Cowgate.

Both men were unknown to each other.

Prosecutor Dale Hughes told the High Court in Glasgow that convicted sex offender Wilson had been there earlier that day, but was told to come back in the afternoon, leaving him “angry”.

When he returned around 2pm, there was already a small queue outside.

But, Wilson strode up the stairs to the front.

The victim was heard to say: “You are not the first in the queue; this lady is.”

The victim spoke to others about Wilson before the CCTV captured him going up the steps to speak to the attacker.

He said: “I do not mean to be aggressive, but you cannot go in front of the queue.”

Mr Hughes told the hearing Wilson then became “increasingly agitated”.

Wilson shouted: “I know she is there. You do not have to f***ing tell me. Do not talk to me like a c***.”

The shocking footage then captured Wilson swinging blows at the victim, causing him to stumble back down the steps and smack his head.

Mr Hughes said: “Wilson stood over the man and said: ‘you stupid f***ing mug’. He repeatedly kicked him eight times with force on the head.

“[The victim] was unable to defend himself and lay motionless throughout. Wilson then ran away.”

The prosecutor said “fortuitously”, a nurse happened to be nearby and helped the victim.

He was not breathing and was bleeding from his nose, mouth and the back of his head.

He was rushed to hospital with a “dangerously low” consciousness level.

Mr Hughes stated it was thought he would not recover.

He had multiple fractures and needed emergency sight-saving surgery, but survived following treatment.

Wilson was arrested the next day in Edinburgh and said: “You have got the CCTV footage there.

“What am I supposed to do? I felt under threat. The first time I missed him, the second time I hit him.

“I did not attempt to murder him.”

Paul Mullen, defending, said there was “no excuse for the level of violence” inflicted.

The lawyer stated Wilson had initially “waited patiently” at the council building that day, told he had to come back after lunch and then “felt entitled” to be at the head of the queue when he returned.

Mr Mullen also told the court Wilson’s previous sex offence conviction – for which he was jailed for 18 months in 2013 – had continued to “haunt” him.

This had led to him moving to Edinburgh as he was aware the family of the victim in that case were “actively looking for him”.

Mr Mullen said: “He was in a heightened state when this incident occurred…but he accepts [the victim] had nothing to do with the previous incident.”

Lord Arthurson said the prison term would have been ten years, but for the guilty plea to the attempted murder charge.

The judge said: “Your criminal conduct is about as close to the crime of murder that one could possibly contemplate.

“You kicked your vulnerable victim repeatedly and forcefully to the head all while he lay unconscious and unable to defend himself in any way.”